Dad Who Sewed Son's Butt Shut Takes Plea Deal

A Waukegan, Ill., man avoided prison time for a January 2008 do-it-yourself surgical procedure in which he sewed together part of his son's buttocks, the Lake-County News Sun reported.

Randy Swopes, 52, took a plea deal that offered him two years of probation and 250 hours of public service.

Swopes' son has Crohn's disease, an inflammatory bowel disorder where the body's immune system attacks the gastrointestinal tract.

At the time of the incident, Swopes' son, who was 14 at the time, suffered a complication of the disease called fistula. Fistula, which affects an estimated 25 percent of people who have Crohn's, is an abnormal connection of two organs. In the teenage boy's case, there may have been an abnormal connection between the anal canal and anal skin.

Depending on the severity, proper treatment of a fistula may involve a combination of taking antibiotics and draining the abscess, according to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation.

Rather than take his son to the hospital, Swopes chose to sew the buttocks area shut himself, Assistant State Attorney Danielle Pascucci told the Lake-County News Sun. The teenager spent nearly a month in the hospital because the wound became infected, she said.

Swopes, who was charged with aggravated battery, could have spent at least two years in jail for the incident before agreeing to the plea deal.